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Letter to the editor

The skinny

By JIM WEBSTER, Times Staff Writer
Published January 23, 2008

STATES OF SWEET

No Key lime pie, but Maryland debates dessert
Life is so blissful in Maryland, that the most pressing matter that the state legislature has on its plate right now is deciding on the state's official dessert. Official papers written in legal terms make the case for the Smith Island cake, a 10-layer concoction of sweetness. But some spoilsports think that the state has too many state things already. Among examples: state drink (milk), state sport (jousting), state boat (skipjack), state cat (calico) and state folk dance (square dancing). "Personally, I believe there's enough state items," said Sen. Richard Colburn, before caving. "But I love Smith Island cakes."

Her chocolate stash is now full
Elizabeth Emerson, 87, is a case study of the power of the media. In a New York Times story about how the low-income elderly endure harsh winters, the Jonesport, Maine, woman disclosed that her greatest vice was Hershey bars. Next thing you know, chocolate is showing up in the mail. "I couldn't believe it. I laughed more than anything. All that fuss over little old me," Emerson told the Bangor Daily News. Even Hershey sent her an assortment pack. "I've given boxes and boxes away. I can only eat so much chocolate." A thought to future national media news sources: Mention how much you like cash.

POLICE AND FIRE

Panhandling pays well in Houston
Police in Houston interceded when a persistent panhandler would not take no for an answer from a woman. When they questioned the man, he said he had no ID, so police searched him. And they found about $1,700 in one pocket. Then they searched another pocket and found about $1,700 more. His two-pocket total was $3,426.78. "That's more than some of us have in our savings account," police Capt. Mike Raney told KHOU-TV. James Dillon, 42, says he can't get a savings account because he doesn't have ID. Panhandling is a big enough issue in Houston that the police are putting undercover officers on public transit vehicles to try to curb it.

Kentucky fire starts by hot irony
The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader reports that a fire destroyed a storage and manufacturing facility on Saturday night. No one was in the building, and one firefighter suffered minor burns. The weird thing: The company that did business out of the building specializes in fireproof building materials. It was not clear how the inventory held up.

UPDATE

Lacy larceny
Garth Flaherty, 24, has admitted stealing more than 1,600 items of women's undergarments in Colfax, Wash., and now faces up to 45 days in jail. That works out to about 40 minutes for each bra, panty or otherwise unmentionable. He was arrested in March 2007 when police received reports of a man hanging out in apartment complex laundry rooms, from which such items had been noted missing.

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 23, 2008, 01:02:23]